Colorado Breaking News, Sports, Weather, Traffic, Jobs

Krieger: The curious case of Peyton Hillis

By popular demand, let's have a look at the strange case of Peyton Hillis, the 250-pound, second-year back who, like a George Orwell character, has become a nonperson at Dove Valley under mysterious circumstances.

Here's Broncos coach Josh McDaniels on Hillis back in June, during an offseason minicamp, as quoted by my colleague Jim Armstrong: "We're going to use every skill he has. He does a lot of things well. He can run the ball as a single back or he can catch the ball out of the backfield. He can block in two- back sets or he can split out wide. He's got great hands and he's a very tough runner to bring down when you give him the ball. So he'll do a lot of different things for us."

Here's McDaniels on Hillis at the end of August, during the preseason, as quoted by my colleague Jeff Legwold: "Kind of an older- school guy. Physical fits him, tough fits him, smart, plays a lot of positions on our team."

Here's McDaniels after Sunday's game at Indianapolis when I asked if he might address his team's difficulties in short yardage with Hillis, a bigger back than Correll Buck- halter or Knowshon Moreno:

"No."

Here's McDaniels when I asked him why: "We're putting our best player out there in that situation."

Here's McDaniels on Monday when I asked him if he had changed his opinion of Hillis since last summer: "Nope. He's done everything we've asked him to do and he's filled in when we've asked him to fill in and will likely play a broader role this week, depending on Buckhalter's health and availability for this game."

Advertisement

Here's McDaniels when talk radio host Les Shapiro mentioned fans think Hillis is in his doghouse: "He's not in the doghouse."

Hillis carried the ball one time Sunday, for 2 yards, just after Moreno ran for 11 and took a breather. Buckhalter already had gone out with the injured ankle that had him on crutches after the game.

Hillis carried the ball 68 times for 343 yards as a rookie last season, an average of just more than 5 yards per carry, leading a decimated running back corps in rushing and sometimes imitating a freight train. He has carried it 12 times in 11 games this season for 54 yards.

So when Moreno was stuffed on third-and-1 and fourth-and-1 near the end of the first half Sunday, short-circuiting a key scoring chance, it was natural to ask why Hillis, who outweighs Moreno by 35 pounds, didn't get a try.

McDaniels offered three reasons:

1. The Broncos' running game has been good the way it is and Buckhalter and Moreno have converted plenty of short-yardage situations.

2. When Spencer Larsen went down with a back injury on the opening kickoff, it left Hillis the only fullback for McDaniels' two-back sets, so he couldn't play halfback.

3. The short-yardage struggles had nothing to do with the runners and everything to do with the offensive line.

These all have a certain logic, but they're not particularly convincing. If McDaniels were still as high on Hillis as he was last summer, wouldn't he at least give him a try in power rushing situations?

"He's a very tough runner to bring down when you give him the ball," he said then.

Has that changed? Did Hillis show up late for a meeting, forget to brush his teeth, leave a horse's head in somebody's bed? Hillis answers these questions carefully — especially the one about the horse's head — trying not to dig himself deeper into the doghouse he's not in.

"I do what I can when they want me to," he said after Sunday's game. "I can't pick and choose when I can go in there and play. I can only wait for my time."

Even if McDaniels is right that defensive penetration, not the running back, was the Broncos' problem in short yardage, you'd think a big back who could plow through a tackler or two would be just as helpful in that case.

I'm not trying to suggest that Hillis would dramatically change an offense that now fits the definition of mediocre by most statistical measures. Still, sometimes it seems McDaniels would rather make a point than a first down. Why wouldn't you try your big back in short yardage after repeatedly failing with smaller backs? There's something happening here, and what it is ain't exactly clear.

When I asked McDaniels if he agrees that big backs make sense in short yardage, he said Buckhalter and Moreno are big backs, each weighing in excess of 215 pounds. So there you go.

Whatever's going on, if Buckhalter can't play Sunday, McDaniels may have no choice but to find out if Hillis' fans have a point.

Rockies are on pace to lose 93 games this seasonThe Rockies lost three of four in St. Louis and are on pace to lose 93 games as they come home for a three-game series with Seattle before going back on the road again to face Washington.